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Bird -Lore 



with them a loud, liquid song, which is not given by the male alone, but by 

 both sexes at the same time. 



This counter-singing by the female, so far as I am aware, is not generally 

 known among birds, but it is certainly practised by this species, as well as by all 

 forms I know of Pheugopedius, Henicorhina, and Donacobius. In all these cases 

 the birds sit close together, the male a little above the female, and his song is 

 usually louder and more brilliant than hers. Heleodytes bicolor gurgles a loud, 



clear, oriole-like "Keep 

 your feet wet." The 

 female, three inches be- 

 low and a little to one 

 side, parallels this advice 

 with an evenly timed 

 "What d'you care?" in 

 perfect unison, usually, 

 with the reiterated 

 phrases of her mate. 

 Donacobius does it some- 

 what differently, as the 

 female only says "wank, 

 wank, wank," while the 

 male sits just above and 

 sings almost exactly like 

 a Cardinal, or a boy 

 whistling loudly to his 

 dog, hui, hui, hui. If the 

 male gives only three 

 phrases, so with the 

 female; if, however, the 

 male repeats his whistle 

 a dozen times, the female 

 begins and ends in exact 

 time with him. This 

 curious habit I verified a 

 number of times. Still 

 more interesting is the 

 fact that both sexes of 

 Donacobius possess an 

 inflatable sac of bright 

 yellow skin on the sides of the throat, which, when the bird sings, puffs out 

 to the size of a cherry, and is a very queer and conspicuous character. When 

 singing, they look down, hump up the shoulders, puff out the neck, and 

 give their strange duet from the top of a marsh weed or dead bush, and 



BLACK-CAPPED WREN-THRASHER 



Donacobius atricapillus 



